Hello everyone!!! Preparation is going great and I am very excited to start giving out tee shirts. I am very excited to see what God shows me on the field and I am very excited to spread God’s love and His kingdom! I was kinda iffy on what to write about for my second blog post, I was leaning towards “I am who You say I am” or “Finding myself in I am”, but God really moved through the topic I am typing today. I decided to title this blog post “Music for my soul” because music is such an important aspect in my life, and I have such a passion singing for Christ.
The first verse and song God showed me was John 1:12-13, which says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe I His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The song was “Who You say I am” by Hillsong Worship, the lyrics are “Who the Son sets free, oh is free indeed, I’m a child of God, yes I am.” God and His love is so beyond me and my words. If you receive Christ and accept Him as your Lord and Savior, He is more than glad to come into your heart. Jesus died and set you and me and your neighbor and your pastor and that woman in Wal-Mart, He died for each and every one of you. The song sings, who the Son set free, is free indeed, oh happy day! (My pastor’s favorite one-liner) You are set free, those chains no longer hold you back, the doctor’s diagnosis, the cancer, the loss, the sin, LISTEN IT NO LONGER HOLDS YOU. The devil will tell you there is no way for an all-powerful God who created everything good could love you as much as He used to but let me tell you the good news!! God loves you the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. No matter how far you go or run or doubt, God has SET EVERY ONE OF YOU FREE. If anyone of you ever feel like you’re too far gone and He couldn’t even forgive you, He knows you’re going to slip up and fall short, but that’s where mercy and grace show up. “Listen, My child, you are never too far gone. I am always beside you, the warmth and peace you feel is Me. I am your Father, I never leave nor forget My children. You are My dearly beloved, I bend down to hear your prayers. Come to Me, I will give you rest and peace.”
The second verse and song God provided was John 15:13-15, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friend, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jesus called US His friends, what a great best friend to have!! When I’m reading through the Bible and find foreshadowing moments like these, I’m like, “Awwww Jesus!!!! You are so good to us and I don’t want you to die!” But then, if Jesus didn’t die, we wouldn’t have the Holy Spirit everywhere with us. But back to the verse, Jesus said that there was NO GREATER LOVE than the one where one would lay down his life for another, and that’s exactly what Jesus did for us!!! I am now realizing I continue to talk about God’s love through songs, but that is totally okay!!! But Jesus showed us the greatest love of all, He laid His life down for us, His friends. An important verse is the one that says, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command.” Meaning we need to follow His commands, in order to be His friend!! The song I connected it to was, I’m sure you’ve already guessed, “What a Friend” by Matt Maher. “What a friend we have in Jesus, East to west my sins are gone, I see grace on every horizon, and forever and ever His heart is my home.” He died for His friends, He has taken our sins and washed us clean. There is grace on every horizon because of Him and His love. What a friend we have!!
The third verse and song God gave me was Romans 6:6, “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-” meaning that our old self, the sins, the baggage, the desires, they all died with Jesus! We no longer are slaves to sin, that death has LOST its sting and power over us and our lives!! Isn’t so amazing that our friend Jesus died on a cross and took our old selves and sin so that sin would no longer have rule in our lives!! I love how it says that our old self has died with Him, that once Jesus was raised from the dead, but our sins didn’t raise with Hm, they died!!! Matthew 16:24-25 says, “Then Jesus says to His disciples. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up is cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” We need to deny ourselves, our wants, take up our cross and follow Him. The song I chose for the first verse is No Longer Slaves by Bethel Music and the song sings “I’m no longer a slave to sin, I am a child of God” and (my favorite) “We’ve been liberated from our bondage, we’re the sons and the daughters, let us sing our freedom.” WOW He LIBERATED us from bondage. The bondage Satan had over us! He has SET US FREE FROM IT ALL!! The definition of liberated is “freed from imprisonment, slavery, or enemy occupation” and I don’t think there could be a better definition of what Jesus did for us.
The final verse and song God supplied me with was Ephesians 1:4, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,” my perspective of this verse is that God has chosen us to be holy and blameless before Him and His sight. Jesus wants us to live like He did and to spread His and not to be served, but to serve others. We need to leave behind the anger and the stress and lay it down at His feet. We need to put others’ before ourselves and care for those when no one else does. The song I connect this verse to was “Blameless/How He loves” by Dara Maclean and the lyric says, “What manner of love is this, that You would lay down Your life, You paid the price, the sacrifice for redemption…Now alive and the power in me is You.” He has paid the ultimate price so that we are called blameless and holy and chosen. He calls us all these beautiful things; His children and His friends.
Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
